'For Peete's Sake' Finds Success On OWN And With African American Demographic

Holly Robinson Peete and Rodney Peet participate in AOL's BUILD Speaker Series to discuss their new OWN docu-series “For Peete’s Sake” at AOL Studios on Friday, March 18, 2016, in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

This year has been a busy one for the Peete Family: Their reality show For Peete’s Sake debuted on OWN in March and Same But Different: Teen Life on the Autism Express, a children’s book co-written by mom Holly Robinson Peete and her twins, Ryan Elizabeth and RJ, was published by
Scholastic Inc. in February. The timing of this cross promotion has helped boost earning potential for both TV network and publisher—as well as for the creators.

President of OWN, Sheri Salata, said that the debut episode of For Peete’s Sake brought 35% new viewers to the network for that evening in addition to being the #1 cable show for African Americans in that time slot. “We popped the champagne over that,” Salata said. At this time last year OWN had some of their most watched weeks of television thanks to their programming, which includes inspirational (the highly trending Super Soul Sundays), dramatic (Tyler Perry’s The Haves and the Have Nots), and reality shows like For Peete’s Sake.

For Peete’s Sake has remained in the Top 100 original cable telecasts since the premiere on March 19th where it landed at #49. OWN ordered eight episodes for the first season and the finale airs this evening. The core base for OWN is black women, yet Salata notes that OWN looks at a more attitudinal demographic than one measured by age, gender, and race as per
Nielsen’s counts.

Where the Real Housewives of (insert city here), the Kardashians, and others on reality shows have found celebrity through television and gone on to attain book deals (see, Real Housewives of New Jersey Theresa Giudice’s Italian cookbooks or Real Housewives of New York Betheny Frankel’s bestselling Skinnygirl brand), the Peete’s already established themselves and wanted to represent their family as the antithesis to the theatrics seen on other reality shows, particularly those with a mostly or all-Black cast.

For Peete’s Sake was pitched to OWN as Run’s House meets Black-ish. Salata said that the network has enough of a track record not to want to exploit the family and that OWN respects the TV platform and their audience to ensure they don’t miss genuine moments between the Peete family. Salata relayed in a phone interview that Oprah said “what matters to her are moments that have an impact on an audience.”

Moments such as Robinson Peete and her husband Rodney talking to RJ about how to act as a young Black man if he’s ever stopped by a police officer or how to be a “Blactress of a certain age” as Robinson Peete calls being a middle aged Black woman trying to work in Hollywood. These are aspects of their reality show and life that are multifaceted and different. It’s also similar to how the success of Black-ish incorporates humor and the realities of being Black in America onto broadcast television every week.

Courtesy of Scholastic

While the Peete’s show looks at the family dynamics, their book with Scholastic is a fictional account that parallels Ryan Elizabeth and RJ’s own experiences. The characters of Charlie and Callie are also twins, frustrated teens, and in the case of Charlie (and RJ) someone who has autism. Same But Different is considered a follow up to the successful My Brother Charlie, one of the few books to touch on autism with protagonists of color. My Brother Charlie is currently listed at #57 on Amazon’s Special Needs category.

These types of depictions of black or multicultural families are not often seen in media and rarely presented by the same people experiencing them. For this reason RJ seemed adamant about telling his own story of having autism, “Because every voice is different, I wanted my voice to be heard.”

The juggling of a book, a show and promotion has proven to be beneficial. Both Scholastic and OWN are well-known brands, while Robinson Peete is also a recognizable name. Same But Different is being marketed through a heavy social media push by Scholastic, sales have been steady and the intent is to also see how well this title resonates with librarians at the upcoming American Library Association conference in Florida next month.

The Peete family enters television and returns to publishing at a good time when these stories are not only understood to be profitable but are providing a much-needed source of entertainment and awareness for the African American demographic. Empireis the second highest rated on Wednesday evenings and Black-ish holds steady as a well-rated sitcom on Wednesday nights on broadcast television. The African American demographic has strong ties to the material being produced, providing For Peete’s Sake and Same But Different a great opportunity to find continued success.